The depression is well and truly here, which is a shock (not really) as it hasn’t been here and this bad for a very long time. A very long time. So I’m not really in the mood to write this, but I want to because I’ll hate myself later for not doing it. The allotment isn’t curing the blues either as all I see when I go there is JOBS. Lots of JOBS that need doing by someone with a working brain. So not me. Yes it’ll be there waiting for me when I’m feeling better but yes it’ll also be in a worse state than it is now because I haven’t done anything to it. Ho hum.
July has been productive and some big jobs have been ticked
off (to be replaced by more!)
July to-do list:
· Dig
out and turn the compost. Lots of grass cuttings on the
heap means it now requires all the shredded paper that I’ve been storing in the
shed to be mixed in to get a good compost mix
· Start
de-weeding and re-cardboarding beds. Some of the
beds haven’t even been used this year because all of my pumpkin and squash
failed. Might as well get a headstart on winter.
· Sort
out the polytunnel. It is mostly (surprise
surprise) mares tail and bindweed. I need to get a new cover for it at some
point but the inside is currently not usable, so I need to fix that.
· Measure
up and work out how much timber I need. Hint: lots.
I didn’t do the compost (too hot)
I didn’t start de-weeding the beds because WHATS THE POINT
they’re full of blinking mares tail.
I have started stockpiling a large amount of cardboard ready
for prepping the beds though.
Tunnel is a black mark against my name at the mo, it is on
The List.
Timber has been measured and bought!! Now I just need to
paint it all. 26 planks of wood all needing two coats of paint. If anyone wants
an afternoon at the plot…
The calendula are now all going over because I’ve run out
places to store the dried flowers, so I am letting them go to seed so I can
collect them instead. I have also started collecting foxglove, parsnip, and poppy
seeds.
It’s been a good blackberry month – only 2 months early?! When are blackberries supposed to be ripe because I’m fairly sure it shouldn’t be mid-July.
The waterbutts have all been upgraded and replaced. That was a hoot. I thought the old ones were empty and then I tried to move one. Full to the bladdy brim. Took me an hour to empty it via watering cans and buckets to be able to move it to get the new one in place to fill it back up. Managed to empty the three other ones into the new big one, but eff me. What a palaver. Anyhoo, I did it all on my lonesome and I now have four 200L butts instead of four small 100-150L butts that leak. PROGRESS. I also fixed the guttering on the other side of the shed. Three bits of brand new guttering (costing around £15each) and all I needed to do was remove the central bracket to make it all sit properly. Eff me. But it has worked as the front butt (by the doors) is now half full, yippee!
By some MIRACLE I finally have parsnip seedlings. PARSNIP SEEDLINGS!!!! I counted three before, but today I saw a few more so I might (keep everything crossed) MIGHT have seven parsnips to harvest at chrimblebob. SEVEN. A far cry from my hopes of two a week every week for a year. Hopefully my saved seed will come true next year and I’ll have a good harvest with local seed (local as in, 3ft away) and they’ll all germinate lovely and next year will be different.
Next year will be different.
A wee bee has blocked off a hole in my bee hotel, the first
ever resident. This hotel is made from offcuts of 75mm fence post with holes
drilled in. 8 bits of post within a wooden frame, wedged in so I didn’t need to
glue or screw them together. Holes of different sizes for different bees.
I have delicately placed some tarps and slabs to kill the grass and wet the ground where my pond is going to go. I have the liner and membrane, I need to get some sand and decide the final plan and shape. And then dig!
David has been up with the big petrol mower to cut the clover. I measured the gaps between the beds very carefully (sarcasm) but he could get the mower between them so I must’ve measured after all.
So – sort of a productive month, but also not. The grass really needs doing every couple of weeks, the mares tail and bindweed needs pulling weekly, and I just don’t have the patience to do it. I think I need to have one big plot day a month to chip away at the larger jobs and hopefully the smaller things will fall into place. I want to get my plot to the state where I can leave it for longer time periods without feeling overwhelmed when I get back to it, but I think it’s going to take some time to even get to that point.
Broken brain would probably benefit from a day of painting
but I just don’t want to be there. I just don’t want to do things, don’t want
to be outside, don’t want to run the risk of seeing someone and pretending to
be fine. So I don’t.
August to do list:
·
Dig the pond
·
Paint half of the wood (13 planks)
·
Add shredded paper and turn the compost
·
Take off the old polytunnel cover and cut it up
to throw away
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